At least 10 people were killed in a shooting spree in southern Alabama last night, including the suspected gunman, police and state officials said.

The shooting began when six people were killed in Samson, a small town near the border with Florida. The gunman reportedly drove down a rural road, firing at vehicles before shooting at least two more people in a shop in the nearby town of Geneva.

"He shot at several vehicles on the highway and then he shot at Wal-Mart and [grocery store] Piggly Wiggly in Geneva," a local policeman in Geneva told Reuters.

A total of six people were confirmed dead in the town of Samson, said police dispatcher Jim Stromenger. Among the dead are a sheriff's deputy's wife and child.

Samson police chief Gary Weeks said the suspect was shot and killed. But it is unclear whether it was self-inflicted or whether he was shot by police near the Reliable Metal Products company outside neighbouring Geneva.

Stromenger said the gunman started firing at a petrol station in Samson, shooting a woman there.

The gunman then went to a home in Samson in the late afternoon, where he killed four adults and a child, and two others at other residences, police said. Stromenger added that it was unclear how the shooter might have been related to the people at the home.

The gunman, who has not yet been publicly identified, then drove south-east on a highway, opening fire on a state trooper's vehicle, striking the vehicle several times and slightly injuring the trooper, the Alabama Department of Public Safety said. The man then shot and killed two more people at a pipe store and a petrol station along the highway.

The gunman's journey ended at a metal products store about two miles north of Geneva, where he fired an estimated 30 rounds in a shootout with police. Geneva police chief Frankie Lindsey was shot but saved by his bullet-proof vest. The man entered the store, then police heard shots, and several minutes later followed him in and found his body.

"Had he not been slowed down, no doubt we would have had more casualties," Geneva mayor Wynnton Melton told the Dothan Eagle newspaper. "He was shooting anybody he saw."

Soleta Darden, who was close to the nearby KFC, witnessed the shootout in front of Wal-Mart. "I heard five shots to my right, and then I looked up and saw a maroon Eclipse speed off from the scene, then I saw deputies and troopers in pursuit after him," Darden said. "I was just scared, crazy scared. I thought 'what the crap is going on'."

Alabama officials believe the same man may have been responsible for more deaths, including a body found in a burnt house in nearby Coffee County.

Geneva and Samson have populations of around 4,400 and 2,000, respectively.

The attack comes just two days after a man walked into an Illinois church, shot the pastor and stabbed himself and two others. On April 16, 2007, a mentally ill student at Virginia Tech University shot and killed 32 people and wounded many others before turning the gun on himself.